Chronicles of coaching American football in Italy (2008, 2009 & 2018), in Sweden (2010, 2016 & 2017), in Switzerland (2012), winning a Division III National Championship in France (2012-13), in Spain (2015 & 2016) and in Mexico (2017) as well as walking the Camino de Santiago in August-September of 2010.

About Me

I have been married to Laurie for over 46 years. Our oldest son, Andy, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife Jenn and their son Kevin. Our youngest son Mike lives in Oxnard, California with his wife Vanessa and their kids Jacob and Mary. Although I retired from teaching in June of 2007, the 2015 football season marked my 45th year of coaching football at five high schools in Southern California's Ventura County - Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Rio Mesa, Buena and Newbury Park. In 2008, I opted to try something totally different in my coaching career and started coaching in Europe. My EuroBall stops have been in Catania, Sicily in 2008 & '09, Hässleholm, Sweden in 2010, Thun, Switzerland in 2012, Lyon, France in 2012-13 with the 12-0 National Champion Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons, Murcia, Spain in 2015, Rivas, Spain in 2016, Upplands-Väsby, Sweden in the Spring of 2016 & '17, in Mexico to coach the Europe Warriors in Aug. & Dec. 2017 and now in 2018 in Varese, Italy. Join me as I explore and chronicle my newest adventures coaching American football in Europe. My European touring also included a 500 mile Pilgrimage Walk on the Camino de Santiago in Spain in 2010.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

New and Improved French American Football Playoff Brackets . . . LOGIC BE DAMNED!!!

Today we will explore the wonderful world of logic.

The French Federation of Football Américain finally released their official playoff pairings for this weekend's Division III, Junior and Cadet games. No hurry on their part as today is Wednesday and we play on Sunday.The previous pairings that I posted two days ago were based on the FFFA's stated playoff formula that used your league status, overall record and seasonal scoring differential to seed the playoffs. France's two leading websites on American football in France both agreed on Monday by using the FFFA's formula which 16 teams were in and what the seeding would be.The FFFA did not agree as the seedings are different based on one Northern and one Southern team that came in second in their respective leagues being snubbed in favor of third place teams for some unknown reason.In the North, the Nord Poule C runner-up Le Havre Salamandres (6-3-1) are out of my original bracket and are replaced by the Nord Poule C's third place team, the Asnières-sur-Seine Molosses B at 5-3-2.Huh?In the South, the Sud Poule B Champion Pau Sphinx (6-2) are also out of the money in favor of the Sud Poule B's third place squad, the Cenon Devils (4-4).What the . . . ?Very curious indeed!!!A last minute change is not out of the question in my opinion.

Here are the new and improved brackets which fortunately still have us playing against the Albi Hurricane in the first round, so that fortunately neither of us wasted any preparation or practice time the last two days.Teams are listed with their North and South bracket seedings, season records and league finish. Again, for brevity's sake, Nord Poule A is abbreviated to NPA, Sud Poule C to SPC and so on.Northern France BracketSaturday or Sunday, April 27-28#8Asnières-sur-Seine Molosses B (5-3-2), NPC #3 at#1 St-Herblain Dockers (8-0), NPB #1#5 Caen Conquérants (7-3), NPC #1 at#4 Villepinte Diables Rouges (5-1), NPE #1#6 Strasbourg Minotaures (8-2),NPA #2 at#3 Terville Gueules Jaunes (9-1), NPA #1#7 La Courneuve Flash B (4-2),NPE #2 at#2Tours Pionniers (6-0), NPD #1

Conference Semi-Final GamesSaturday or Sunday, May 11 or 12Conference Championship GamesSaturday or Sunday, May 25 or 26The Casque D'ArgentNational Championship GameSaturday or Sunday, June 8 or 9

We will host the Albi Hurricane at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.In other playoff related news, the Falcons' Junior and Cadet teams also qualified for post season play. At these two levels, the playoffs are 32 team affairs with a possible five game endurance run to a National title.Our 2-2 Junior team will travel on Sunday to play the Avignon Warriors.At 11:00 a.m., our 3-0-1 Cadet squad will host the Montpellier Hurricanes, not to be confused with the Albi Hurricane that our Senior team's confronts that same day.Sunday is definitely Game Day for the Falcons!